I have searched the internet over and cannot find anything telling if bb's can bite you through your clothing. I found these creatures in my bed end of August and have been battling them since, not realizing they were also in my SUV, which I believe to be where they started since my mothers bldg became infected and I had been doing her laundry at my house for months by then, transporting it with my truck. So I think my battle has gone longer than it would have since I wasn't aware they were there, surely carrying them back in with us. My daughter and I are the only 2 in the house showing reaction to them and both have gotten bitten on our bottoms! Always in areas that had been covered with clothing when other skin was exposed. So does anyone know if they do get to you through your clothing or is it my dogs fleas that decided to eat on us too? I'm going insane at my house. Having to wash everything constantly and taking nerve meds along with sleeping pills just to rest. Also I always feel like bugs are on me when they are not! What is that all about? Or feels like needles stick in my skin periodically all day long with nothing there! I have never felt so alone and defeated in my life! Become paranoid about everything! Girls up the street have had head lice and I'm convinced that's now headed our way too! Help please

I don't think they can bite through clothing, or perhaps they're too stupid to try.

As you observe the bugs over time you learn more about them and will get better at spotting and killing them. I had bugs coming out near the head of my bed so I just rotated my position and now they come out at the foot. They're too stupid to know I moved. And they're easier to kill now, being further away from their food source (me.)

I started getting up around 3 a.m. when I learned that they are the most active around this time (anywhere from around one to three hours before sunrise is when they seem most active.) I'll get up, turn up the light, and wait for them for at least 2 hours. For awhile I was killing 12 to 15 bugs per morning. After doing this for eight days I was "only" seeing 4 or 5 bugs per morning; and fewer big ones. Today was day 10 in my battle against the bugs. Yesterday I thought they might be totally eradicated but I did execute 2 young adults and one nymph.

Since I'm seeing fewer bugs as I continue getting up early to hunt them, I suspect it is possible to get rid of them this way. It's just a mathematical game of killing them faster than they can reproduce.

Very enlightening an I am so sorry but I really had to laugh at how stupid the bug is...It seem you have gotten to know there habits very well...The funny thing is I haven't found any in the night or early morning ( I wake at all hours by habit..)(Kids)(now BB)I did found two unfed babies two days ago At 1 in the afternoon.... Panic mode....me or the kids have not been bitten at all... I... think... We dont have any bit marks.... I had a friend tell me that one bit them through there clothes...I think if the clothes are thin and light enough they might... just think about it.. You have to have a special Encasement... WHY... cause they can poke there needle through it And take you blood with out permission... Doesn't the DR even have to have permission to do this..... I hope I am wrong but This is my thought for now... BB are stupid...
It has been A week and 6 hours since my first treatment...

My understanding is that they can bite through clothing but that they prefer not to.

We've heard many, many stories about people going to bed in long sleeve shirts, pants, socks, and even gloves, only to then develop bites on their faces because that was the only exposed flesh.

I know that some of the bites I got were places that had clothes covering that skin while I was asleep, although more of the bites were on skin that was exposed.

Once you know about bed bugs, it's very common to think you feel things crawling on you when you don't actually have things crawling on you. In short, you become hypervigilant. After a while, I realized that the "things crawling on me" sensation was actually the air stirring the fine hairs on my skin--which happened all the time even though I didn't notice the sensation until I started worrying about the possibility of bugs all the time.

^^ the same thing happens to me. it doesnt help that my bites dont show up until HOURS after ive woken up, showered, gotten dressed and gotten on with my day. i constantly feel like im being bitten in the middle of the day. even if im wearing freshly hot washed + hot dryed + straight outta the ziplock clothes that should for all intents and purposes be 'uncontaminated'.

There has been a fair amount written on this subject over the years but to give you a summary:

Bed bugs are capable of biting through thin material - it is one of the ways that they can be fed in captivity, in the wild / more natural environment it is not usual behavior for them and they almost always go for exposed skin.

Bite responses can be delayed and triggered by other factors such as environment and temperature, therefore it is possible to get bitten during the night and the bite to only appear later in the day.

Bed bugs are mototaxic organisms and they don't like living on non solid surfaces, as such they are unlikely to live in or on clothes unless the infestation is heavy and there is too much competition for food, this usually takes 9 - 12 months.

Far from being stupid creatures bed bugs are highly evolved and highly inelegant, they have survived on this planet longer than humans as a species and have found a perfect niche in feeding on humans.

If you even suspect fleas please use a plug in flea trap to identify them, its the most effective way of dealing with the odd rogue flea that gets into a property and is extremely cost effective.

Hope this clears things up.

David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited

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In accordance with the AUP and FTC (legal requirements) I openly disclose my vested interest in Passive Monitors as the inventor and patent holder. Since 2009 they have become an integral part in how we resolve bed bug infestations. I also have a professional relationship with PackTite in that they distribute my product under their own branding. I do not however receive any financial remuneration for any comments I make about products.

Ok I have had Terminix and another pest control company out to my place and they both see no signs of bed bugs I gave Terminix the samples I found on my clothes and he had no idea what they were, he checked my sofa which has many places to hide But seen no signs of bed bugs. he said for me to set my alarm for 2 am in the morning and check and see if there is anything crawling around. I am praying it is just mites and not bed bugs. my back is the only place I have bites on which I don't understand I sleep on my back most of the night what bug would only bite my back and no other place on my body. Oh I also have had bites on my head and lining of my forehead they are just tiny red dots all along my hair line. If anyone can share with me something to ease my mine or point me in the right direction.

I am extremely confident that you will find that the issue with your reactions on your back will be as a result of either:

Dust mites in the mattress

Contact dermatitis from the laundry additives

There simply are no bugs that would risk their lives to crawl under someone to feed when there is all that easily accessible exposed skin.

As for setting the alarm for 2am that really is one of the worst ideas. If you break your already broken sleep and yet still don't see anything people who are already anxious about insects often drive themselves deeper down that path.

I would again suggest that you seek medical advice and testing for laundry additive allergies or dust mite allergies.

I would also respectfully suggest that you have a little clean up to do on the thread about bedbugs and hair so that others who find that thread in the future see the outcome that it was not bedbugs.

Thank you for your advice , But while at my daughters her house was infested with Bed bugs and she is a very clean person who don't travel much . But works around people the whole time she is at work well I stayed with her and before we knew what it was I washed my hair with lice killer because my head was itching all the time and a few Bed bugs came out of my hair this is why I wrote that thread When it happens to you ya kind of know it is real, I would not write something that did not happen and scare everyone. They were in the shower with me that was enough proof for me .ThenI went to my mothers I was not that informed of how they traveled and at my mom's there I go again , But never seen a blood streak or bed bug , But I did see black dots laying on my mattress I think was waste from the bed bug, So when I left my moms after going all through that I made sure I washed my clothes at a LAUNDROMAT and bought new suit cases the hard shell kind did not bring them in my daughters home I washed all the clothes on me before I came into the house in a washer that sanitizes your wash which is very very hot water and did the same with my coat I had with me and even my socks and sneakers, and it still seems I brought something. I have what looks like prickly heat all over my back that's what my daughter called it, It does not bite me any where else , I have a couple bumps on my face but nothing like what is on my back and the ones on my face don't itch or hurt in any way.... my reason for writing back is that there were some in my hair till I used the lice killer. And I still feel they can travel on your hair . I have no idea if I brought bed bugs here , But it is some kind of bug that is biting the heck out of me and all I see is just little specks on my clothes here and there And I showed pest control and they don't know what they are.bed-bugscouk I have had bed bugs in my hair it is a fact.

I have worked in some of the most infested locations ever documented. Infestations that have grown rampant after 5 years of neglect, one even became the subject of a scientific paper. In total in the worst case I spent 3 consecutive days and 6 full days in the property hand sifting through over 300 garbage sacks worth of possessions and not once did I find a bedbug that had interest in my hair.

In fact the person who lived in the property was infested enough that many of the folds and creases of his clothing were occupied by small clusters of bedbugs, again when dealing with that issue I did not find any bedbugs in his hair.

I am not ruling out the extreme rare low probability event but I am keen to keep it in context and frankly the alarmist way you have written on that thread worries me. Not for your own situation which now seems to be on the road to resolution but to the many others who will stumble upon that post in the future and the fact that it will not help their anxiety.

I appreciate that any pest issue can be stressful but we do need to consider the foot prints we leave in the sand at times.

"I washed my hair with lice killer because my head was itching all the time and a few Bed bugs came out of my hair this is why I wrote that thread When it happens to you ya kind of know it is real, I would not write something that did not happen and scare everyone. They were in the shower with me that was enough proof for me . Then I went to my mothers I was not that informed of how they traveled and at my mom's there I go again , But never seen a blood streak or bed bug ,"
"I have what looks like prickly heat all over my back that's what my daughter called it, It does not bite me any where else , I have a couple bumps on my face but nothing like what is on my back and the ones on my face don't itch or hurt in any way.... my reason for writing back is that there were some in my hair till I used the lice killer. And I still feel they can travel on your hair . "

All the information you have been writing on this thread is not substantiated. There is no concrete evidence that any black dots, marks, etc. are actually bed bugs or anything from bed bugs that you say you have been finding. Stop trying to treat for bed bugs if they are really not there.

Other posters

" don't think they can bite through clothing, or perhaps they're too stupid to try." "My understanding is that they can bite through clothing but that they prefer not to."

As David pointed out above, bed bugs will feed through membranes. Certain fabrics are tightly woven and a bed bug that is trying to feed is unable to push its stylet fascicle (the right and left mandibular and maxilallary stylets that are connected along their lengths to form one stylet unit) through the fabric and through the skin to locate a capillary from which it sucks blood. It's not they prefer or don't prefer or that they are stupid.

Professional entomologist/arachnologist. I consult on all matters dealing with insects and arachnids, including those of natural history and biology to pest management and forensic entomology investigations.

classicbutch - 1 hour ago »
But it is some kind of bug that is biting the heck out of me and all I see is just little specks on my clothes here and there And I showed pest control and they don't know what they are.

As I said in the other thread, pest techs who come to your house are almost always NOT entomologists. Lou Sorkin is one. And so he can identify unusual bugs that most pest techs may have never seen before.

It's definitely worth taking a sample of those bugs on your clothing with a piece of tape as Lou suggested and mailing it to him. Then you can find out if there is some kind of mite or bug biting you and the problem can be solved.